I don't think the cell phone integration in pbxnsip used to its full advantage, so this newsletter will highlight some of the benefits of this great pbxnsip feature.

Did you know the PBX treats a cell phone like an extension on the PBX? This means the PBX will call the cell phone at the same time as your local extension. This is not a call-forward! but something we call call forking, it is simultaneous ringing.

Click here to see some interesting tips on Cell Phone Integration.

As from the 1st January 2009, pbxnsip license model changed to price on the extension only.

This means we include unlimited accounts and trunks in each licensing model. SIP Security is now included without extra charge and user call recording is included in the base license model.

Do you have a hotel or guest house near you? You may be able to sell them pbxnsip, since we now have a hospitality edition. The pbxnsip hospitality edition uses the ULLC interface. http://wiki.pbxnsip.com/index.php/UHLL_Interface

Questions you are too afraid to ask!

Learn some Easy 'Know How'

A SIP trunk is a method of using Voice Over IP (VoIP) to send or receive calls from your PBX. A SIP trunk is created between the IP PBX and a provider of some sort. An ITSP (Internet Telephone service Provider) will supply a service which terminates lines on their soft switch. The switch must be SIP compliant and be designed to terminate calls using the SIP Protocol. SIP Trunks are normally cheaper than the ISDN lines and this is the reason why companies are starting to look at SIP trunks.

pbxnsip trunks have the ability to failover upon a connection error with the gateway or ITSP. Should the call fail for some reason, the trunk if configured, will send the routing of the call back to the dial plan to see if can resolve another route. The dial plan is laid out in a top down fashion and therefore the secondary back-up trunks must be present in the trunk lower down in the dial plan.

The outbound proxy is the field which identifies the SIP server or Gateway, this can be a full DNS domain or an IP address.

e.g. sip:your-sip-domain.com

The trunk may or may not register. Besides this, the ITSP or gateway which receives the information may need the Caller-ID of the calling party to be passed to it. This is does via the privacy indication setting. Try each setting until you find the right one.

Click here to view the wiki for information on pbxnsip

Central Office (CO Lines) is a way the IP PBX can replicate a set number of lines entering the PBX.

If you set the trunk to have 6 CO lines (like so ..."co1 co2 co3 co4 co5 co6") the PBX will create 6 virtual extension called co1, co2, co3, co4, co5 and co6. Like any other extension on the PBX, these lines can be monitored via a BLF. You can also a CO line as way to pass calls round the office... "call for Terry on Line 1"

The direction field on a trunk is a great new feature and it allows you to control the calling direction of the trunk. This makes a trunk very configurable, especially if you want to control access to and from you system and restrict who can call from or call to.

Options include - Inbound and Outbound Calls, Inbound Only or Outbound Only.

Some questions Cell Phone Integration

The cell phone feature on pbxnsip is powerful and can save you some time and money by simply using the PBX feature to help you day to day operations.

The Cell Phone is treated as an extension of the PBX, it is not a call forward or redirect, but a forked call. This means the PBX will call your cell phone simultaneously as your extension is also called.

The cell phone integration can be activated or deactivated by the use of an existing service flag or as an individual configuration at extension level.

Most people configure the cell phone time of day routing to all calls to their phone during in office hours only. This prevents your personal phone from receiving calls at all time of the night!

A cell phone could be switched off, out of signal or engaged. In these cases the cell phone voicemail would normally answer every call. This was a problem to users. Now the PBX can be configured to prompt for a the user to press 1 on answer. The PBX will ignore the answered call until the number 1 is pressed.

If your extension is configured with a cell phone number and you call the PBX, it will match on the cell phone number and prompt you for a pin number. You will then be directed to your mailbox for use within the mailbox as if you were an registered phone on the PBX.

If your extension is configured with a cell phone number, you call have the PBX call your cell phone and give you full access to the mailbox features on the PBX.

If you dial into the PBX by your cell phone and the you have the cell phone number assigned to the extension, use the smart featuresof the PBX as if you were in the office. If you dial in, call an extension and it the extension is busy, the PBX will offer a call back when the extension becomes available. This is offered to your cell phone OR desk phone.

If the calling card account is configured and set to call back the pbx can call you back and connect you and the other leg of the call. The net effect is - you get the PBX to make both calls at cheaper prices than a cell phone tariffs.

Learn some Sales 'Know How'

Too late again! How many times do you get to a customer and find you are only 2-3 weeks late?

Ask some important questions to ask before heading for the door, you may still sell pbxnsip.

Does your new PBX have a conference facility?

Standard pbxnsip feature 'Conference' allows the user to host conference calls for multiple users on one call, originating from either internally or externally of the IP PBX.

External users can either login and authenticate directly on the extension with a password or be transferred by an internal user.

Internal users can remote login with a mobile device and host a conference or register their softphone and login and host the conference from a remote location.

Does your new PBX have a home worker facility?

Installation Cost Saving - In comparison with other TDM hardware or IP PBX's, pbxnsip offers home working functionality and standard with no extra cost for service activation or ongoing.

Expense and time spent travelling to and from work. Either save hours each day by working during the rush hour then travelling to work off peak or work from your home office and your extension can ring as if you were in the office.

Cost office space and overheads - businesses save money by downsizing their office space and remote register working to the pbx over the internet and take advantage of home working.

Resilience - Network outages can be easily overcome, send workers home with their phones and register back to the pbx as if they were still in the office.

Flexibility - Call forking / dual ring means that you never need miss a call again, have your extension registered at multiple sites that all ring at the same time or hotdesk at any location connected to you pbxnsip server.

Some Other useful Sales Tips

Call recording - it can be expensive - but not with pbxnsip!

Requirement or helpful: either way call recording is an expensive business.

The cost a 1 line call recording facility would normally cost more than a Centre 10 - fact.

pbxnsip can be automatically configured to record calls. Record calls to extensions as part of a group (hunt group or agent group).

You can specify the location for your recording to be placed, this could be locally or on a SAN or Network drive if required.

Don't forget the security features of pbxnsip!

pbxnsip offers TLS security feature as standard. Data encryption means that the internal user and the inbound caller have peace of mind that their call cannot be sniffed from either the internal network or from an inbound hacker.

TLS security offers 128bit SSL and SRTP which encrypts the voice packets.

Don't Underestimate Security!

Call back, call in and dial out!

Cost saving feature: in basic terms - Inbound call comes into 'call back' - extension asks authenticates with username and password, then asks pbxnsip to call back to either a mobile device or land line.

pbxnsip then calls the user back, re-authenticates and asks for a destination number - user enters the number, pbxnsip makes the call then glues the two calls together meaning that the call is being charged at the outbound pbx rate not a cross network or mobile rate.

"Great course leaving no grey areas, pbxnsip have a very flexible solution that is amazing value for money. It will start at the top of our product range for IP based solutions."
Luke Newland
Newland Solutions

"We have worked with several other IP PBX providers such as Asterix and Swyx however we will be concentrating fully on selling pbxnsip. Robust, flexible and technically superb. Using Polycom, Snom and Vegastream we will be revisiting our existing customer base and selling pbxnsip"
Paul Robertson, Technical Director
Workforce (UK)